Elliott P. Joslin

Elliott Proctor Joslin, M.D. (6 June 1869 - 28 January 1962) was the first doctor in the United States to specialize in diabetes and was the founder of today’s Joslin Diabetes Center. He was the first to advocate for teaching patients to care for their own diabetes, an approach now commonly referred to as “DSME” or Diabetes Self-Management Education. He is also a recognized pioneer in glucose management, identifying that tight glucose control leads to fewer and less extreme complications. He was born in 1869 in Oxford, Massachusetts and educated at Leicester Academy, Yale College and Harvard Medical School. Joslin first became interested in diabetes while attending Yale, when his aunt was diagnosed with the disease. At the time,...